Balance
by FantasyReaperJ
Summary: The Team receives a new team member, Lena. Of course, she has secrets of her own, but most importantly, a mission she has to complete. Her main concern; keeping her friends-old and new- out of the crossfire. "Nothing's EVER the way it seems. Just like fire, you never know it's hot, 'till you touch it." AU, rated T for now


Happy Harbor was just the place for people who wanted to be in the scene and at the time go by unnoticed. It was quiet, and at the same time as busy as Metropolis. Besides that, there seemed to hardly be a disturbed balance between the waves that crashed onto the shore and the slight breeze that blew though the forrest.

M'gaan loved the place. It helped her forget her home. Kaldur, on the other hand, didn't know if he despised it or tolerated it. Whenever he hung around, he'd either be into the sea water or at a secluded cafe, face buried in a book. Conner didn't know how to feel about Happy Harbor though. It was his home, the first place he'd actually lived in, but he usually felt out of place.

The others never spent much time there, save for Zatanna, who was too busy mourning her loss.

Happy Harbor was also home to few people who'd spent their whole lives travelling and occasionally dropped by.

Not many of them appreciated what they'd left behind though.

* * *

The scene changed from fast moving trees to fast moving buildings that got bulkier and more in number. Finally the train came to a screeching stop.

Kaldur and M'gaan stood at the platform, looking at a picture and then glancing at the crowd coming out of the train.

"That one?" M'gaan asked, pointing at a girl around sixteen with dark red hair.

"No. She must look older." Kaldur replied and continued searching. Not long afterwards, a girl around eighteen came out.

They both glanced at the picture. The girl had red hair, olive and brown eyes. She wore a green tank top and khaki colored short-shorts, leaving her arms and legs bare. Her left arm was tattooed, a design that Robin would describe tribal, that began from the tip of her middle finger and reached her collar bone, wrapped around her neck.

She continued walking towards them, like she knew they'd be standing there. She held out her hand to M'gaan and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Lena, your boss must have mentioned me?" She smiled wider at the word 'boss'. M'gaan shook her hand and smiled back, introducing herself and Kaldur.

"So, we're gonna be living with us?" M'gaan asked on the way back.

"Yeah. BC wants me to train with her before I can officially join, but I'll be around." She spoke of the matter as if it were nothing.

Kaldur was starting to notice the scars on Lena's back. He couldn't see them very well, but there seemed to be many of them. Deciding it was a subject better left alone, he just continued walking and answering occasional questions about the Team.

"You seem acquainted with most... superiors." He noted, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening.

"GL was my legal guardian while I was in Coast City, and I kinda got to know them." She answered simply.

All three took a sharp turn into an alley, where Kaldur and M'gaan knew there was a Zeta platform.

"How did-" M'gaan started only to be cut off by Lena.

"I came prepared." She smiled slightly and continued. Kaldur and M'gaan glanced at each other but decided to say nothing.

"Who goes first?" She asked, grinning.

* * *

Lena was, as Wally would put it, an odd little peach. Besides knowing more than any one would give her credit for, she never seemed to completely drop that smile. It was making everyone uncomfortable to be in the same room with her for more than ten minutes, but luckily she never stayed around that much. They'd all noticed it was easier to find her wandering around town than at the Cave.

The only time she'd stick around was when Canary asked to, just to spar with her future teammates.

" You can try with Superboy." Canary had suggested. Kaldur realised that, besides what Batman had said, no one knew much about her powers. Pyrokinesis, as Batman had simply put it. And, despite not being a fan of fire, he was kinda eager to see what she could do.

Lena simply nodded and fell into a defencive stance. Superboy lunged at her, preparing a punch. She threw her head back, missing the punch by centimeters. She then looped one arm around his neck, and punched him in the stomach with the other, earning a grunt.

Superboy broke free from her grip easily and tried to kick her sideways. She did a split and caught his leg right before it hit her head. Superboy's eyes went big at the ease with which she kept his leg in the legscame back together and, supporting her weight on her neck and shoulders, kicked Superboy in the groin with one foot, while the other kept going upwards, eventually having her to do a mid-air split. Superboy, who was suppressing a yell, lost his balance and fell down. Lena jumped off him, and offered her hand to help him up.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side." Wally commented, his jaw wide open.

"That was hardly my bad side." She replied and smiled towards the rest of the group. "That, I'm saving for someone else."

"Lena..." Black Canary interrupted with a slight scowl.

"You know he's indestructible, you could've used your powers." Lena's smile faltered for a second, just long enough for Robin to notice.

"I don't think it's worth it." She replied, her tone completely neutral. Conner narrowed his eyes, mistaking 'it' as a reference to himself.

Black Canary dismissed the Team after a couple more matches where Lena refused to use her pyrokinesis. They were gathered in the living room, waiting for dinner to be made.

"Where did Lena go?" Artemis asked, noticing the other girl's absence.

* * *

_"I want you to know, everything I did, everything I said, I did it to protect those I cared about." She said. She was beautiful, olive skinned, with long brown hair and brown eyes. She held the child in her arms, craddling it. She knew that it was too much for a child her age to understand, but she would. Then they could be a family at last._

Lena's fingers hit on the keys harder, faster than she was supposed to. The fire seemed restless, seething with anger long since hidden away, eating her from the inside.

Finally she gave up, banging her fingers on the piano keys and got up.

Her face was disorted with anger, suddenly looking even more like _her_.

She wanted to scream, to run. To burn. She drew a breath, keeping it in until her lungs hurt and finally realised it.

_"Fire is balance. It can restore and kill just the same. The trick, is to know both." The all to familiar voice rang in her head, soft as silk but rough and dreadful. "You have to learn the difference between them. Know when you have to kill, and when you have to save." _

Lena walked out, desperate for a change of scenery, for something to keep her busy.

_She wasn't lying. Raven always lied. But that was the one time she didn't. She did everything to protect the one person she cared about. Herself._

"Lena?" M'gaan's soft voice snapped her out of her trance.

"We're having dinner in a while..." She started.

"I...I'm not hungry. Just keep a plate for me and I'll eat later." She replied, covering her upset expression with a smile. M'gaan nodded and continued stirring the food.

Lena sighed. M'gaan's brown-red hair was replaced by thick black hair, pulled up in a bun, her red outfit becoming a black and white version of it.

Lena shook her head, walking out of the kitchen and into the entryway, where the zeta platforms were.

She typed her destination in one of them and walked into the tube, getting transported to the downtown of a city in the mainland, behind an old ad for a movie inside an alley.

She breathed in the air, momentarily forgetting that it was laced with the gas of the cars and the general air pollution.

Coughing, she dug out her cellphone and pressed a single number.

"Kurt?Hey...yeah...outside the bookstore I used to work at. Okay."

She spoke into the phone, headed to said place.

* * *

"I, like, missed you so much!" Kitty shouted, throwing herself into the older girl's arms. Lena hugged back just as tight, having missed the bubbly teen more than she thought she would.

"Me too, kitten. Hey, where's Logan? I kinda need to speak to him." She asked the oldest of the four, Scott.

"In the garage. Ever since you left, his maternal instincts have kinda been confusing the bike for you."

"Don't tell him he said that." Kurt warned as he and Kitty ran back inside the mansion.

Lena smiled and walked into the garage, where she could practically hear the Wolverine singing his bike to sleep.

"Papa!" She called, completely forgetting her anger. The man froze for a second and then spun around just in time to catch his daugher mid-air.

When she finally realised him, he patted her head, his face trying to make a smile appear.

"Back to join the freaks?" He asked.

"Not really, just thought I'd visit, since I made it back in America one piece." She replied happily.

"You know the Justice League, right?" She started." The guys who took care of me before I came to find you?" She continued.

"Those spandex wearing clowns?'Course I do ,kid." He answered, his brow slightly furrowing.

"Well, I got a call from them two months ago. They wanted me to join a team they made. A 'black-ops' kinda deal."

"And?" Logan braced himself for the worse.

"Well, I accepted. That's all, really." She replied.

"But you don't feel right with it." He concluded.

"Well, Raven's still...you know. I'm afraid I'll have to deal with her at some point." She admitted, running her fingers across the bike.

"Ain't that what you want?"

"Duh. But, I doubt my teammates'd understand. They're kids, and...you remember what happened when I tried to take care of it when I was here." She finished.

"Yer doin' what you think is right."

"Yeah, but what if it isn't? I mean, I can always just sit back and watch karma work its magic..."

"Do you wanna take care of Raven or does your lady want you to?" He asked, knowing that that was the same question she'd asked herself.

"I don't know,she's never really wanted anyone even if she did, why not tip off the others?" She asked, more herself than her father.

"You're the one who kept a grudge. Maybe she saw you fitter to do it." He answered, unsure whether it was the right thing to say.

Having a daughter was hard. Learning you haveadaughter thirteen years after she was born was even harder. They'd both made peace with that fact, they were over it. But, guiding her was an entirely different story. Laura, his clone, never really had to ask for advise. She was sure of herself and of her choices.

"Plan to stay the night. The other must've missed you." He said, changing the subject.

Lena smiled again and nodded. She took out her phone and texted M'gaan, informing her of her plans.

"Oh, and Emma," her father called."Stop worrying about Raven."


End file.
